Thankful

Daily, we are thankful for the endless amounts of blessings we continue to receive.  Every night the boys thank God for the little things in life.  Often, we are thankful for the big things, too.  But most often, it's those small treasures that bring us joy.  It's about embracing what we have and not wanting more.  It's about having a giving heart, thinking of others first before ourselves.  It's about being present in each moment and enjoying it.  It's about finding the good, even in the not so good times.

This Thanksgiving we stayed home as we have done a few times in the past and it was wonderful.
It was nice to sleep in.
To not have to rush.
To let the kids stay in jammies and play.
To enjoy a late breakfast.
To putter.
To watch football.

I cooked a turkey and then made the regular Thanksgiving sides.  It's really all very easy except for the last 30 minutes after the turkey comes out and your trying to pull everything else together all at once.

Greg and Brenda came over and we had a nice dinner. The turkey turned out very moist and yummy. The boys ate and ate, as did we.  It was very casual and relaxed.  A perfect dinner.  Brenda and I read through the ads a bit after dinner and I started to make turkey soup, using the bones to make the broth.  So good.  And to top it off, the Seahawks played on Thanksgiving night...and won!  They beat the 49ers.

Building some train tracks together in the morning. 

Cannon helping me cut up the yams. 

The yummy turkey.

An empty dessert plate...and Cannon is wiping up the whip cream with his finger!

And a little paining by Colson after dinner!

Great day.

Enjoying every moment.

A New Bank Account

Colson is the newest member of the family to open a savings account.  He brought part of his piggy bank money to deposit.  They counted out $23.00!  It was great to see him count out the dollars. Cannon helped with the coins and re-counted everything.  I love setting an example of saving money. May as well start them early!

Proud of this kid!
Enjoying every moment!

Wizzard of Oz

Each year our district helps to support a play where K-12 White River students are featured.  This year the play featured The Wizzard of Oz. Over the course of 2 months, students from all over the district have been practicing, sometimes daily after school to make this play happen.  Mountain Meadow had a number of students in the play and some former students, too.  It was great to see so many familiar faces.  Cannon went with me since he had some friends in the play.  Plus, it was also great for just the two of us to do something together.  :)

The Scarecrow and Dorthy were both Mountain Meadow students.  I had Leslie, who played the Scarecrow in first grade.  She is now a 10th grader and was AMAZING as the Scarecrow.  

Melissa and Teresa were in the play.  Both of them are in my class this year!  

Cannon and Alex Tessem.  Alex was a munchkin and a flying monkey.  

Enjoying every moment!

Entertaining Colson

Once or sometimes twice a week, Colson is with me after school.  He is old enough now that he isn't a distraction and I can continue to get my work done.  However, at times he does need a bit of entertaining.  When the toy box in my room isn't interesting enough and coloring on the big paper with markers isn't exciting, he often is by my side.  When I am meeting with my team, I hand him my phone.  Colson loves to look through pictures or play the Disney CARS game. Often, he takes pictures and it's pretty funny what I find on my phone.  I know this isn't new to anyone with kids! We all laugh at some of the pictures we find after the fact.  Pictures of furniture, clothes, themselves....some blurry, some up close, some silly.

This past week I found some pictures that Colson took while he was hanging out with us at school.  I did delete the blurry ones, just because that is a habit.  But thinking back, I should have kept them, too!

Here are a few Colson shots:

Funny what his eyes see...and three of the photos have his fingers in them!

Enjoying every moment!

People...not Animals

We sure did see a lot of animals while we were at the zoo on Sunday....obviously!  And I shared many of those pictures on the last post.  So I thought I should include some pictures of the family in this post!

Cannon and Colson enjoying the playground made from trees, rocks and dirt!

You know the boys won't pass us checking out a tractor!

Colson climbing at the indoor play area. 

Colson went straight for the boat and pretended to start the motor, drive (he was in the back of the boat doing this) and then came to the front of the boat for a 'ride.'

Mommy and the boys...

Having fun on the carousel.  

Enjoying every moment!

Sunday Funday

4 tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo have been sitting on the counter, burning a hole, waiting to be used!  We decided to take advantage of the beautiful, blue skies and head into Seattle to visit the zoo. The boys were excited to see the animals and go somewhere we hadn't been to before.

The ride up through Seattle was great.  We live in a beautiful city with amazing views of the Olympics, Mount Rainier and the Puget Sound.  Add to that the Seattle skyline and we sure had a lot to look at!

There were some animals that weren't out anymore because of the colder weather that we have been having, but we did get to see quite a few different kinds.  The boys loved them all and talked about them all throughout the day.

Cannon enjoyed being the "map keeper" and found our position every where we went.  Colson's favorite was the penguins.  Cannon liked seeing all of the animals.  We made the trek around the entire zoo, skipping only a few things.  The boys were tired by the time we finished and Colson slept most of the way home.  (That was after a stop at the Ballard Locks to watch the boats!)

So much fun had by all.  What a great family day!  Lucky us!

Enjoying every moment!

The Boys

These boys.  They keep us busy.  They keep us on our toes.  They make us laugh.  They test our patience.  They fight.  They are loud.  They are caring.  They are silly.  They are ours.

We wouldn't change a thing....

Cannon received a Doodle book for his birthday from Sebastian, Mindy and Dillon.  He's been enjoying coloring and drawing.  Colson wants one now!

Mr. Cannon all spread out across the chairs.  He wanted me to take a picture and was very specific about where he wanted me to stand.

Colson loves playing the tablet!  On this morning it was very, very cold so we all had gloves on. However you can't play the tablet with gloves on your thumbs, so Colson solved that problem!

At least once a week I have both boys with me either before or after school.  I love when they sit down to play or color or draw.  They are engaged and happy.  But most of all, they are quiet!

Colson went with Jessica to the Sportsmen's Warehouse and had a good time trying out some of their inventory!

Enjoying every moment with these boys!

Preschool Visit

This week I was able to drop off and pick up Colson from preschool and also spend a little bit of time there watching Colson in action.  It was wonderful to be able to go into Colson's class, see his teachers, meet his friends and watch a bit of the routine.  Of course, this was out of the routine for Colson and as soon as I got there he was totally thrown off.  But I did get to play a bit with him during choice time.  Watched snack time and the routines set in place for that, and saw the end of class routine as well.

After class, I stayed for Colson's conference.  The teachers had many wonderful things to say. I learned that at school... Colson is very independent.  He is a rule follower. (Which is so nice to see since he definitely does NOT follow the rules often at home.)  He is very polite and comes across shy in class.  He is observant and learns from watching.  He can count to 19 on his own, recognizes his colors, knows his shapes and can write his name.  He can recognize some letters and many numbers.  He colors very nicely and in the lines.

A goal for Colson is to work on recognizing letters and numbers randomly.

Proud of this kid and all that he is learning!

Enjoying every moment!

Game Day

Saturday's are college game days.  We look forward to watching or listening to our favorite teams on game day, cheering and rooting them on.

This Saturday we were lucky enough to attend the Husky football game against UCLA.  The neighbors have season tickets and couldn't go, so they offered the tickets to us.  Ummm....Yes!  Chris and I had a great time together, sans kids, enjoying the beautiful fall day and taking in the new stadium.  This was the first time we have been in the new stadium and it's pretty cool.  The views are amazing.  Lake Washington and Mount Rainier on one side.  The Olympics and the Space Needle on the other side.  We loved people watching and seeing all of the purple and gold.  The band was great and entertained everyone before the game and at half time.  Unfortunately, the football team didn't play too well against a ranked team and lost 30-44.  Disappointing.  But we still had a great time.  It was nice to get out just the two of us.

Hello Husky Stadium.

Hello cupcakes...yes cupcakes at a football game!

Hello women's softball field. 

Hello view from our seats. 

Hello Mount Rainier.

Thanks neighbors!

Enjoying every moment.

Singletons

I enjoy revisiting photos from the previous month and when I do, I often find single photos of miscellaneous happenings.  They are photos that tell a story all by themselves and usually show just our every day life.  Here are a few...


Grandma Anderson brought lots of craft items for a project she worked on with Colson and she left a pipe cleaner that she twisted into Colson's name.  LOVE.

Chris was busy one evening cutting off the ends of golf clubs and then welding on forks to make hot dog and marshmallow sticks.  We have some and love them! These were for Claire! 

Colson doing a little morning painting!  He love being creative!  This was a truck that Chris has started painting from the night before and Colson added some of his own touches. 

These boys are enjoying Cannon's new Farming Simulator and being able to drive the tractors.  

Cannon reading his Read Well homework.  This is an every night task.  He does well and rarely needs assistance.  Cannon has actually moving to Read Well 2, Unit 5 next week. Proud of him! 

Enjoying every moment!